Russia! Russia!! Russia!!!

[Smitty-48]

Really? Ever hear of a little thing called the Cuban missile crisis?

Pretty sure that was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which, contrary to popular sentiment; not actually Russia.

Nice pedantry, kudos.

No, not actually pedantic, two radically different countries with different constitutions and governing structures, with vastly different borders and ethnic dispositions, saying that Russia and the USSR are one and the same, is like saying the United States and Britain are one and the same, if you were so ignorant as to not understand the distinction between Britain and America, it would not be mere pedantry to disabuse you of the notion, because conflating the two is really a hugely mistaken assertion as opposed to a minor point of order.

There's actually little to no continuity at all, between Muscovy, the Russian Empire of the House of Romanov, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Russian Federation, four completely different countries, each one wiping the previous country out as it went.

[Montegriffo]

So you agree with this statement?
''Our relationship with Russia is at an all time and very dangerous low''

[Smitty-48]

So you agree with this statement?
''Our relationship with Russia is at an all time and very dangerous low''

With the Russian Federation? Absolutely, by far and away the most tension to date, between the United States and the Russian Federation, particularly considering how utterly supine the Russian Federation was in the face of American power projection in Europe from its founding in 1991 as opposed to now, although, again, a radically different country than the Soviet Union, with poltical motivations and goals which are practically the polar opposite of the Soviet Union's, so ironically, the tension is due to the Russians going in the opposite direction that the Soviets did, to wit, recoiling from the international order rather than attempting to dominate it.

At this point, the Americans have more in common with the Soviet Union, while the Russians have more in common with pre World War America, the Americans, the radical internationalists, the Russians, the insular isolationists.

[Speaker to Animals]

It doesn't even really make a lot of sense to me. Russia's interests are at least not actually in conflict with those of the American people, and at best are aligned (as they are in the war against radical Islam).

It seems to me that the common enemy is becoming the US federal government and the deep state that now controls it.

[Smitty-48]

To be fair, Americans viewing their interests as being significantly in conflict with the interests of the Washington National Security Consensus, is a relatively recent paradigm, I would submit, post Iraq War as opposed to pre Iraq War.

[Speaker to Animals]

But is that not the case now?

[Montegriffo]

Well if Trump meant since 1991 then maybe he was right. If however he was not making that distinction it is just another exaggeration along the lines of ''greatest turnout ever for an inauguration'' or ''greatest defeat of all time''.
I'm not convinced but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and cede....
Knowing how thin skinned he is I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.

[Smitty-48]

But is that not the case now?

Uniformly? Doesn't seem to be, as American liberals seem to be rallying around the Washington National Security Consensus at this juncture, in the face of an insurrection largely from the Right.

[Smitty-48]

Well if Trump meant since 1991 then maybe he was right. If however he was not making that distinction it is just another exaggeration along the lines of ''greatest turnout ever for an inauguration'' or ''greatest defeat of all time''.
I'm not convinced but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and cede....
Knowing how thin skinned he is I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.

Disagree, I think Trump well understands the distinction between the Soviet Union and Russia, Trump was around for the fall of the Berlin Wall, he understands what happened when the Soviet Union dissolved and the Russian Federation was founded in its wake, and I serious doubt that Trump would have any afinity at all for the Soviets, in fact, I'm quite sure he despised them.

[Smitty-48]

The people who seem to be having a problem telling the difference between the Soviets and the Russians, is in fact the Washington Natioal Security Consensus, bearing in mind that the Soviets as an advserary, was in their entrenched interests, while the Russians as not a threat to America after all, being against their entrenched interests, so perhaps not a coincidence that the Washington National Security Consensus is treating Russia as if they were proxy for the Soviets, even when Russia is in fact the polar opposite.